The disclosed invention is about a longitudinal cutter. More particularly, the present invention is directed towards a longitudinal cutter for segmenting a tire belt ply before assembling a tire comprising a segmented belt package and a method of building such a tire.
Conventional pneumatic belted radial tires include at least two annular layers or plies of parallel cords, woven or unwoven, underlying the tread. The belt plies are arranged so that the left and right cords are inclined at angles of 15xc2x0 to 30xc2x0 with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire, most typically are arranged at angles between 17xc2x0 and 27xc2x0.
When building tires, it is known that the various rubberized fabrics or rubberized cord material must be cut to prepare the material prior to being incorporated into the tire being built. The various uses of such cutters includes trimming the edges of the material or transversely cutting the material to the necessary length.
The present invention is directed towards a method of building a tire having at least one cord reinforced belt ply. The method is comprised of layering various tire components on a tire building drum. Prior to placing the at least one belt ply on the building drum, the at least one belt ply is longitudinally cut, forming a plurality of belt ply segments. The belt ply segments are placed onto the building drum and the cords in each belt ply segment of each belt ply are oriented in the same direction.
In another aspect of the invention, the tire being built has at least two belt plies. Both belt plies are longitudinally cut prior to placement of the belt plies on the building drum to form a plurality of belt ply segments. The cords in the belt ply segments of each belt ply are oriented in opposite directions relative to the belt ply segments of the adjacent belt plies.
Also disclosed is a longitudinal cutter for dividing a continuous belt ply into a plurality of belt ply segments. The cutter has at least a pair of shear cutters and a cutting surface against which the shear cutters rotate to cut the continuous belt ply. The shear cutters are mounted on a rail and are moveable along the length of the rail.
In another aspect of the longitudinal cutter, the cutting surface is a base plate and at least one cutting bar mounted on the base plate against which the shear cutters rotate.
In another aspect of the longitudinal cutter, the base plate forming the cutting surface has a plurality of grooves. The cutting bar have at least one tang on the base of the bar which interlocks with the grooves of the base plate to secure the cutting bar to the base plate.